


Breathe.

by Chaos_Greymistchild



Category: Bleach
Genre: How Do I Tag, M/M, Softness, UraIchi Prompt Challenge #5, Winter War Was Worse AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28448376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaos_Greymistchild/pseuds/Chaos_Greymistchild
Summary: A snatched moment of ephemeral peace.
Relationships: Kurosaki Ichigo/Urahara Kisuke
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32
Collections: UraIchi Prompt Challenge #5





	Breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest I forgot pc5 was happening and then wrote this in about half an hour so.  
> Have too much brainrot for other fandoms atm XD
> 
> Partially inspired by Starrie_Wolf's [To Shatter Fate](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14777843).  
> 

Kisuke twists one last screw into place, then flexes his wrist, feeling the smoothness of the motion and the listening to the subtle click-clicking of the bone. A kidou would just as easily silence the clicking as it could strengthen the prosthetic to take the blow of a captain-class Arrancar, but it would be best if kidou weren’t used.

Kidou can be stripped and unravelled, after all.

He hums to himself, settles himself more comfortably amongst the unmelting snow, and starts to take his arm apart again.

There’s a _whump_ as someone lands behind him, and in a flash, the knife in his good hand is aiming for a throat without hesitation.

Ichigo just blinks at him and lazily redirects the knife upwards, scoring a line on his cheek that heals almost as soon as it opens and sending the knife flying from his hand.

“Really, Kisuke,” Ichigo says with no little amount of exasperation, reiatsu settling back tightly under his skin again, “You _knew_ that was me.”

“Oh hush, let an old man have some fun, won’t you?”

Ichigo settles behind him, arms wrapped around his waist and head buried on his neck, and Kisuke can feel the press of Ichigo’s smile against his skin.

“You’re not an old man,” Ichigo retorts, laughing softly.

“My thanks for your faith,” he says drily.

Ichigo snorts into his neck.

They fall silent except for the click of metal on bone as he continues to put his hand back together. Some of them didn’t have high-speed regeneration, after all, though the ones that did now outnumbered those who didn’t, ever since they began Hollowising every Shinigami who volunteered for it, in a frantic arms race against Aizen’s ever-increasing army of Arrancar.

Kisuke flexes his hand again, this time revelling in the silence of it, the smoothness of the motion and the lack of lag. Ichigo takes it in his hand, tracing the contours of the bone carved from harvested Hollow masks.

“How long until we have to go back?” Ichigo asks, voice hushed.

Back, back into the constant war, into the throwing of others’ bodies into waves of Hollows, into the meat grinder that ate up everything.

They’re both prominent figures, Kisuke with his genius and strategy and frankly world-breaking bankai, and Ichigo with his equally world-breaking power and crushing endurance and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it regeneration.

He sighs.

“I’d love to stay longer, but…”

“But we’re both needed. I get it. Don’t go dying on me now, Kisuke.”

He finally turns around, presses a kiss against Ichigo’s brow.

“I won’t. I got Benihime here with me,” he says, patting where she’s sheathed at his waist.

A crooked smile graces Ichigo’s face, and it makes him look young again, the same way he was before the war dragged from weeks into months.

“Nah, Benihime won’t let you go dying so easily like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I made Ichigo's regen even more OP. It's somewhat similar to Muzan Kibutsuji's (from Kimetsu no Yaiba | Demon Slayer) regeneration.
> 
> Vaguely relevant headcanon is that you _can_ harvest Hollow masks but it's a lot of effort for not much gain and why would you want a purified Hollow's mask anyways, so no one really does so at least up until the moment Kisuke starts using it for his prosthetic and okay wow it's actually pretty strong and tough and useful
> 
> Even more vaguely relevant but related headcanon is that similar to a "living" Hollow, a Hollow's harvested mask will just soak up reiryouku (passively) or any reiatsu fed into it. As it does so, it gains stronger properties (such a increased toughness) and can possibly even gain certain Hollow traits (such as being able to fire Ceros), although no one managed to cross that threshold, what with them needing to save every possible scrap of reiatsu to fight.
> 
> You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/greymistchild)  
> And if you liked this, please consider RTing the [promo tweet](https://twitter.com/greymistchild/status/1344559984403628035?s=19)!


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